Xcode complexity? No more.

https://github.com/pvinis/talk-xcodegen-rn

Xcode has been a big part of the difficulty users face when trying to use and upgrade React Native. We added CocoaPods to make linking in Xcode easier. We made upgrade-helper to document the changes in Xcode. We made upgrade-support to help users with their problems. Today, I'll show you how to make your Xcode problems go away.

Transcript

1. Xcode complexity? No more. with Pavlos Vinieratos React Native EU @ your screen, your house August 2020
2. I'm Pavlos, aka pvinis on everything online. I enjoy using and improving React Native.
3. Xcode is a struggle for many. Especially coming from web or native Android.
4. Why It's an unknown/unfamilar tool. Almost all settings need to be edited using Xcode UI. Its file format is not very friendly.
9. React Native Core and Community are working hard. Besides the many improvements and new features shipped, tooling has been getting better too: CocoaPods was added, making manual linking a thing of the past. upgrade-helper was created, making manual upgrading easier.
10. I've had this idea for a while: Wouldn't it be nice if my Xcode project was more like package.json?
11. XcodeGen is here to save the day! https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen
12. It can generate an Xcode project from a project.yml file. Imagine project.yml is package.json and MyProject.xcodeproj is yarn.lock.
13. Visit https://github.com/pvinis/react-native-xcodegen to get set up. Steps: Install xcodegen and xunique. Copy make into your ios dir of your project. Find the right project file for your RN version from templates. Copy into your ios dir of your project and rename to project.yml. Done. You can now run ./make from inside ios dir to have your Xcode project generated.
14. Demo
15. Adding libraries 1/3 No native code, nothing changes. yarn add ramda
16. Adding libraries 2/3 With native code, tiny change. Old way yarn add react-native-permissions cd ios && pod install New way yarn add react-native-permissions cd ios && ./make https://github.com/pvinis/talk-xcodegen- rn/commit/8940952a5d046ea0ef2db856ed3418e9bcfa91e9
17. Adding libraries 3/3 Adding native code yourself, simple. Create the native files with or without Xcode Make sure they are in the target's sources in project.yml cd ios && ./make https://github.com/pvinis/talk-xcodegen- rn/commit/90ff2d1ac34b34ad6b229c9b7b486e9e457f9a78 https://github.com/pvinis/talk-xcodegen- rn/tree/master/code/MyProject/ios/MyProject https://github.com/pvinis/talk- xcodegen-rn/blob/master/code/MyProject/ios/project.yml
18. How do I upgrade next time Look for updated template in https://github.com/pvinis/react-native-xcodegen. Otherwise check the upgrade-helper xcodeproj diffs for anything interesting. https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/?from=0.62.2&to=0.63.0 https://github.com/pvinis/talk-xcodegen- rn/commit/286c0f5b7a18b8a2b68db41e44c1702860f94173
19. Takeaways 1/3 XcodeGen is a great way to keep complicated upgrades simple. From https://github.com/react-native-community/upgrade-support/issues/13 To https://github.com/pvinis/talk-xcodegen- rn/commit/286c0f5b7a18b8a2b68db41e44c1702860f94173#diff- 5b58604e7164c95a2602ad5b5fab7235
20. Takeaways 2/3 Read the docs and specs of XcodeGen if you'd like to learn more. https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen/tree/master/Docs
21. Takeaways 3/3 XcodeGen has no way right now to generate a project.yml from an existing xcodeproj, but it is being worked on. That means when a new Xcode setting is changed, we need to look for the right yml name for it. Or grab the latest template project.yml file and merge it with any changes we might already have. https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen/pull/735 https://github.com/pvinis/react-native-xcodegen
22. Work to be done Keep the templates up-to-date with the diffs and upgrade-helper Make an RFC and a PR on react-native to add a project.yml to the init template
23. Go set this up for your project Try it out Make issues for things that might not work for your project Find me on twitter.
24. Thank you twitter.com/pvinis (@ me) p0l.co/talk-xcodegen (this talk) p0l.co/rn-xcodegen (tempate files) artsy.net (where I work) pvin.is (my blog, ) pavlos.dev (my portfolio, )